Teacher's Aide

Gayle's nearly-new car was still parked where it had been since the last time she'd driven it. He started it up occasionally to make sure it still ran, but it hadn't been driven in a very long time.

Pete drove a fully-loaded 2017 Jeep Cherokee Limited in what was called 'Light Brownstone Pearl Coat' which seemed like a lot of words to describe a color he couldn't pin down. Gayle would have known. In an instant.

All he knew was he loved the vehicle, and he'd bought on a whim one day hoping to distract himself from the ever-present grief, and it had done the trick. For maybe three days. And then it became old hat. He had less than 5,000 miles on it some 15 months later, and nearly all of that came from driving up to the Naval Air Station to work out.

He did his best to clear his head as he wondered what his first-ever job interview would be like. He nearly laughed out loud when he briefly wondered if he should have done some preparation.

"It pays $15,000 a year before taxes," he told himself. "It can't be all that difficult."

He found a spot out near a tennis court that looked like it rarely got any use, parked the Jeep, then headed toward the office. There were no kids in school yet, so parent pick-up was empty except for one vehicle from the county.

As he reached for the door, an attractive, younger woman saw him and opened it for him.

"Good morning!" she said very pleasantly as she eyed him up and down.

"Oh, hi. Good morning," Pete replied.

"Please tell me there's something I can help you with," the 20-something teacher said with a very bright smile on her pretty face.

Before he could reply, an older woman, whose voice he recognized said, "There's nothing you can help him with Ms. Winters."

The older woman smiled at him then said, "But I believe I can."

The younger woman rolled her eyes then let him go by her.

"You must be Mr. Hark," she said, still botching the name.

"Um...yes," he told her.

"I'm Diane Pokorney. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please come with me."

As they passed by several other women and one younger man, Pete knew they were whispering—and staring—at him. He also knew why but didn't care. He just followed the principal outside then under a covered walkway and finally up a flight of stairs that required him to reverse direction once.

"Ms. Tanner's room is 216. So two doors to our left."

It was open so the principal said, "Knock, knock!" then walked in.

"Diane! Hi. Good morning," the younger teacher said.

Just as Pete stepped into the room Chelsea was saying, "Did our 9 o'clock..."

She stopped talking when she saw him and sat there in stone-cold silence.

"Chelsea Tanner? Pete Hark. Pete? Chelsea Tanner."

He smiled as he walked straight over to her then extended his hand as she continued to stare.

"Chelsea?" Diane said wondering if she was experiencing some sort of 'brain freeze'.

"Oh. Yes. Good morning. Pete...right?"

"Yes. Pete. Harke," he said making sure Diane could hear the 'e'.

"Oh, okay. So the 'e' isn't silent," Chelsea said, now smiling herself as she looked back at the paper on her desk with his personal information on it.

"No. The 'e' demands its day in court," he told her with a smile.

Both she and the principal laughed before Diane asked him to have a seat.

Diane went over the kinds of things he could expect to do, again emphasizing how he'd mostly be taking the kids everywhere they needed to go.

"Would you mind reading to the kids?" Chelsea asked. "Even my voice gets tired easily now."

"Sure. Anything. I'm not one to look at a job description. If I accept it, I'll do anything I'm asked."

"I'm just curious, Mister...Harke," Diane said, clearly pronouncing the 'e'. "Why you're doing this isn't my business. We're very glad to have you. Trust me on that. But I really am curious."

Pete took a minute or so to quickly explain his former career, the passing of his wife, their son's impending graduation from flight school, and his brief-but-unsatisfying fling with substitute teaching.

Both women told them how sorry they were for his loss then told him they understood his very justifiable pride in his son's accomplishments.

"We have several Navy wives on staff here and one retired Navy man who teaches fifth-grade math. I'll introduce you on our way out," Diane told him.

They chatted for maybe five minutes before Diane asked Chelsea if she had any more questions for Mr. Harke, and she said, "No. I think I'm good."

"All right. Well, she and I will discuss this later on, and I'll call you with our decision," Diane told him as she stood up indicating the interview was over.

Pete knew it wouldn't be grueling, but he almost laughed at being told that was it.

They dropped by the retired 'Navy guy's room and Pete shook hands with him after being introduced. He was probably around 40 which made sense if he enlisted at 18 and retired with 20 or even 22 years.

The other man didn't even say 'hello'. All he heard was 'Marine'. The first thing out of his mouth was, "What'd you retire as?"

Taken aback, but not letting it show, Pete calmly asked, "In terms of rank?"

"Yeah. Lemme guess. You were a...gunny. Am I right?"

When Pete hesitated, the other man said, "No? Okay. So...you were a master sergeant, huh? That's not bad. I was up for senior chief myself but turned it down."

"Oh, I never made master sergeant," Pete replied calmly.

"Okay. So you were a gunnery sergeant. Hey, I retired as an E-7, too."

"Right," Pete said with a smile.

"Listen, maybe we can sit down and swap sea stories one of these times," he said before asking without so much as a pause, "so what subject are you teaching?"

Diane jumped in and told him, "No, Pete's going to be working as an aide. To Chelsea. He'll walk the kids around campus for her."

The other man's demeanor changed immediately now that he felt he was talking to a mere 'subordinate.'

"Oh, okay. Well, it takes a lot of time going to night school to get a degree. It's not easy, and that's not for everyone. Trust me, I know from personal experience."

He gave a dismissive look at Pete then said, "You're getting up there, but you're not too old to do that yourself, you know."

Diane was smiling but didn't say a word.

"I'll uh, I'll give that some thought," Pete said as politely as he could.

He told the retired Navy chief it was good to meet him but only got, "Yeah. Uh-huh," in return as the other man, who's name was Mike, refused to even look at him let alone shake his hand.

Diane was surprised by the cold shoulder treatment and told Pete so once they were well out of earshot.

"I honestly thought you'd really get along. You know, with both of you being ex-military."

Pete had only just met this...Mike guy...but it appeared he might have a bit of a chip on his shoulder. It was unfair to decide so early, but Pete had met many hundreds of Marines and quite a few sailors over the years and was pretty sure he was right. Even so, it didn't matter as far as he was concerned. They were both retired and there was no rank. And yet Mike seemed to want to laud it over him that he was a teacher while Pete was but a lowly aide.

"C'est la vie," Pete said to himself.

To Diane he said, "He's probably just busy getting things ready for when the kids get here."

"Right. Yes. That makes a lot of sense," he replied.

They stopped just outside the office to say goodbye to one another when Diane noticed a half dozen female teachers standing there looking and pointing.

"I'd say you've created quite a stir, Mr. Harke."

He glanced inside and got a range of reactions from smiles to a wave to eyes that quickly looked away to an air kiss.

"Oh. Um...sorry?" he said with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders as he turned back toward her.

Diane laughed then said, "Listen, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I know Chelsea really likes you."

When Pete smiled Diane immediately thought about her young teachers and said, "No. Not...not like that."

Pete chuckled and said, "I wasn't thinking that. All of these girls... Sorry. Most of these younger teachers are almost young enough to be my daughters. Chelsea included."

"I'm not supposed to say this either, and I haven't even said the first thing I was going to tell you yet, but you are a very um...distinguished-looking man, Mr. Harke."

He laughed again then asked, "Is that code for...old guy?"

Diane laughed, too, then assured him it wasn't before getting back to the first 'taboo' topic.

"I'm going hire you. Just please don't tell the county I said that until after the offer is formalized. It's a big no-no to directly tell anyone you do or don't plan to hire them."

"No worries," he told her. "And thank you. I really need to spend as little time around the house as possible."

"I can't imagine," Diane said supportively. "My husband and I divorced four years ago, and it was for the best, so I have no regrets. But losing someone you love? I really can't imagine, and I am truly sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. That's very kind, Mrs. Pokorney," he told her.

"Diane. Please. I'm not big on the whole 'principal' thing. I taught for 16 years before becoming an administrator, and my main goal is to help teachers help kids learn. So...Diane is just fine."

"Well, thank you, Diane. And I'd prefer Pete, but you're the boss," he replied.

"Then Pete it is," she told him. "So the county office will be calling you. They have some pre-employment training everyone has to sit through, and that's where you'll fill out all the paperwork, etc. Once that's done, you'll be all set to start helping out."

"Sounds good, Diane. I'll take of care of everything I can on my end as soon as possible."

She smiled, extended her hand, then wished him well. Pete did the same and headed home. Or rather...back to the house. The big, empty house where he lived alone.

It was a little after one o'clock when his phone rang, and once again, the caller was someone named 'Clay County Schools' so he answered it with a cheerful 'hello'.

The mandatory training Diane mentioned was being held the following day at 8am at the county office, and Pete told her he'd be there with his social security card, DD-214, and the other paperwork she told him he'd need.

The training was four hours in length and covered standard topics like sexual harassment and every employee's legal requirement to immediately call a 1-800 number in the event they so much as suspected a child was being abused.

Pete knew that sort of thing happened all too often, but most of what got reported was teacher-student misconduct with students in high school or occasionally junior high. But this was referring to the kinds of things that happened mostly at home where someone on whom the child was dependent was destroying their child's trust in adults, and in many cases, causing emotional scars that would never heal. Just the thought sickened him, and he hoped he'd never have to deal with it.

He'd had more than his share of unpleasantries having spent two tours in Iraq and two more in Afghanistan. In addition, there were the kinds of disciplinary infractions officers and Staff NCOs regularly dealt with from Marines bouncing checks to being drunk and disorderly to the kind of 'hanky panky' that took place with married Marines's spouses far too often.

But they were adults, and these were children. The school had a pre-K program so children as young as three attended. Pete could only shake his head at the thought of any adult doing anything to any child, let alone one that young.

Other than that, it was standard fare, and although he wasn't required to go into work until the following day, he drove to the campus and stopped by the office to let Diane know he was available.

"Oh. Um, just so you know. If you stay, you won't get paid for today," she reminded him.

Pete tried not to laugh, then very quietly said, just in case other aides he didn't know were nearby and might take offense, "I won't really be getting paid tomorrow, either."

Diane 'got it' and tried not to laugh, but between his very pleasant sense of humor and his...even more-pleasant good looks, she found herself laughing anyway.

He told her he was going to head upstairs, and as he went to leave, there was another small gaggle of younger, female teachers standing there waiting to talk to him.

"So," one of them said with a smile. "We understand you're a part of our little family now."

She was probably in her early 30's, very cute, and there was no wedding ring on her hand. Pete intentionally raised his left hand up to his chin, left it there then sort of rubbed it before answering to make sure she saw his.

"Yeah. I guess I am."

"Well, if you need any help with anything—anything at all—I'm in room 137 just out the door and five doors down on your left, okay?"

"Oh. Sure. Thank you very much," he said as he went to step around here.

"And my name's Wendi," she let him know.

"Wendi. Got it. I'm Pete."

"Uh-huh. I know," she said in a way that caused one of the other women to groan with embarrassment.

She looked at the other woman then smiled before saying, "We all know."

The other teachers were much less forward and politely introduced themselves letting him know what grade they taught and where their rooms were. The difference was there was no implication about his feeling free to drop by at all, let alone—anytime. Several of them mentioned their husbands and their children, and two expressed their condolences for his having lost his wife.

He took the time to politely chat with each one of them as he filed away who they were and where their rooms were before finally getting out of the office.

As he headed for the building where Chelsea worked, Wendi also left the office and ran up beside him.

"Hi, again," she said with a smile. "I uh, I thought I'd show you where the teacher's lounge is and where your box is located. Someone already put your name on it, so may I give you a quick tour?"

"Of course," he told her even though Diane had already pointed out where the lounge was located.

Pete opened the door for her, and Wendi smile brightly and said, "Handsome and a gentleman. I'm impressed."

He smiled but didn't reply as she pointed out the obvious like the snack and beverage machines.

"And...this is where our boxes are. See? Yours is right here. Pete Harke," she said making sure to pronounce the 'e'.

"And this is my...box," Wendi told him while sort of loosely pointing toward some boxes on the wall across from them then slowly-but-deliberately turning her index finger to a place where Pete wasn't about to look.

They were the only people in the room, but Pete didn't give that a second thought until she spoke again.

Wendi looked right at him then said, "I like older men, Pete. Especially handsome, older men. So if you wanted to say...check out my box...you could do that anytime."

He wasn't sure when the last time was he'd heard the term 'box' used for that part of the female anatomy, but he was definitely familiar with the usage. He was also used to being flirted with although that rarely happened anymore because he'd become a kind of recluse who rarely left home except to run, swim, or go to the gym.

"Ah, I see," Pete told her as he saw her looking up at him and smiling in the way he remembered Gayle looking at him whenever she wanted to 'go to Funky town', their code word for making love.

"So if you need help—of any kind—you just let me know, okay?" she told him as she ran a finger from the top button on his shirt to just above his naval.

"So much for sexual harassment training," he said to himself after telling Wendi he knew where to find her.

He excused himself then bounded up the stairs and nearly ran into Mike who was coming down.

"Whoa! Easy there, Jarhead. You uh, you might wanna try looking up once in a while," Mike told him as though he was talking to a young sailor.

"I'll make a note of that," Pete told him.

"You headin' to Chelsea's room?" Mike asked him.

"I am."

"Damn shame. The whole thing. They not only nearly killed her, but her jerk of a husband left, too."

"What?" Pete asked not sure he'd heard correctly.

"Yeah. The guy evidently bailed a couple of months after their kid was born. I never really asked her about it, but the word is he couldn't deal with a wife who couldn't, you know..."

Mike took a look over his shoulders then started thrusting his hips.

He was standing on the step above Pete so they were at eye level when Mike leaned in a little closer then said, "Can't say I blame him, you know? I mean, can you imagining being that age and never bein' able to get some?"

Having spent his adult life around military types, and most of them men, nothing surprised him anymore, but some things still disgusted him.

He didn't dignify the comment with a reply. Pete just said he should probably get going.

"Yeah. Right. You uh, you gotta big job there...Gunny," he said rather snidely as he slapped Pete on the shoulder with some papers he was carrying and folded in half to hit him with.

For the second time in several minutes, Pete shook his head as he got to the top of the stairs and saw the door to Chelsea's room was closed.

He knocked quietly and heard a pleasant, "Come in!"

He opened the door and smiled as Chelsea realized who it was.

"Pete! Hi. I didn't expect you until tomorrow," she told him.

"I uh, I thought there might be something I could take care of for you today so I swung by after we finished with the training at the county office."

"Oh, right. That's some quality stuff, huh?" she said with a pleasant smile.

Pete laughed and told her the best part was being done with it.

Chelsea laughed, too, then said, "I do have a few little things, but unless you can get my room switched to the bottom floor, that'll be it until tomorrow."

She said it in a way that made it clear she thought it wasn't possible then started to tell him what the little things were.

"I'll knock all of those out for you, but can you give me a few minutes to take care of something?"

"Oh. Sure. Of course. You're not even supposed to be here today, remember?" she said with the same happy smile on her face.

He headed back to the office and saw Diane talking to a man about his age and his height he hadn't seen before, so he waited until they finished.

"Oh, Pete! Hey. I want to introduce you," Diane said when she saw him standing there.

The other man turned to face him, and Pete saw a name tag on his shirt that said 'Doug'.

"Doug is our head custodian, and he's also retired Navy. I was just telling him about you, and then you walked in."

The two men shook hands and unlike Mike, Pete could tell he and Doug were going to hit it off.

"Nice to meet you," Doug said.

"You, too," Pete told him before saying, "I have a question for Diane that I think may involve you. Can you stay for just another minute?"

"You bet," Doug told him.

Pete explained the problem and offered a solution to it before Diane said, "I'd love to move her, but the custodians are swamped this time of year. And making matters worse, one of them is out due to a family emergency."

"I can take care of it by myself," Pete told her. "I just didn't know if I might need keys or something only Doug would have."

"That's a lotta work, buddy," Doug told him.

"I've got nothing better to do," Pete told him jokingly even though it was the gospel truth.

"I'll take photos of both teachers' rooms then recreate them exactly as I move everything around. If that's okay."

"I like this guy!" Doug told Diane.

"Yes. I think he's going to fit in quite nicely around here. I'll go over with you and let Ms. Bonaro know you have my approval. She won't be happy, but...oh, well."